Brent oil trading slightly down around $77 Wednesday

London Brent crude oil on Wednesday is trading around the $77 dollar mark on the ICE Futures Exchange, giving up some of the previous day’s gain on weaker Asian equities and a steady dollar, but losses were limited after industry data showed a surprise large drawdown in US crude inventories.

While the price of Brent crude is up about 70 percent this year, it is still around 45 percent below a high of more than $145 a barrel reached in July last year. Oil prices rallied from below $70 a barrel on Oct. 7 to a one year high of $82 last Wednesday, coinciding with higher global stock indices and a weaker dollar.

OPEC oil ministers said this week the producer group may raise output at a meeting in December if global crude stocks fall fast. Oil traders also await US gross domestic product (GDP) data, due to be released on Thursday.

Tags:  brent oil price, ICE